Band Celebrates 20 Years And A New Album At Historic Rockefellers On October 12th

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All Photos By Larry Petro/Petrofyed Photography

Normally we at KNAC.COM post articles and highlight interviews, CD reviews and show reviews from National acts but let's face it, as some of our beloved hard rock and heavy metal acts are heading into their twilight years, the future of our music community lies in the hands of local bands. Every megastar band got their start the very same way, by playing clubs, opening for larger acts, and grinding their way up.

Houston's RED TIGER is a band that has been published on KNAC.COM before, both in CD reviews (2014's Alive...And Still Believing and 2018's Evolution) and as part of shows reviews of such acts as THE FOUNDRY, KIX, KROKUS and Sebastian Bach following their move from the island of Puerto Rico, where they spent the first 10 years of their careers, to the Houston area in 2014. Never satisfied and always thinking forward and bigger, the band decided that they would no longer open for anyone else, and any future shows they did would be as headliners. Now, in the pay-for-play business that most local bands have to contend with they were not given much of a chance, told it couldn't be done, etc, but the band proved them wrong and have not opened for anyone else since.

The core duo of vocalist/guitarist Red Latu and drummer/vocalist Alejandro (Alex) Figueroa have manned this ship from its inception and throughout several changes to its lineup have continued to forge ahead. But just as things were beginning to break for RED TIGER, Covid hit and like every other act, shows ground to a halt. Not to be discouraged Red & Alex focused their energy on upgrading their musical gear (Alex now has a $12k monster drum kit) and writing music. The result was 2 full albums worth of material, the first of which, Die Another Day, was just released on October 12th. The band's lineup has been solidified with lead guitarist Alexis Perez, who also served to help mix and master the album from his Highway Recording Studios in Puerto Rico (drums/vocals were recorded at Wire Road Studio in Houston), and new bassist Andres Correa, who is the drummer Alex's nephew.

The record release show was planned months in advance and not only served to celebrate the new album but also the 20th anniversary of the band. The location chosen for the event was an historic venue in Houston, Rockefellers, which has seen its share of legends all across genres over the years. Acts such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Roy Orbison, B.B. King, James Brown And Ray Charles have graced its stage as well as acts like PRIMUS, Steve Vai, Gary Hoey and even JACKYL. Formerly built as a bank in the Heights area of Houston, the building was renovated into a nice, intimate venue with what was formerly the bank's vault now converted into the 'green room/dressing room' for the bands.

A lot of planning went into this show with the band footing the bill for everything ahead of time, from renting out the venue, hiring a lighting company to bring in a rig of lights and effects and stage extensions to the tune of around $3500 alone. What local band does that for a show? None that I can recall in my 20+ years of covering shows in this area. And people from not only Houston came out but fans from their home of Puerto Rico as well as Mexico, Peru, Argentina and Honduras were all in attendance. Their musical style of hard rock and metal combined with Latin undertones appeals universally and it was great to see some many countries represented at this show.

Since this was a special celebration show, as such there was no opening band. It was a night, for RED TIGER of RED TIGER music and what we got was a career-spanning 2 hour 15 minute, 26 song show. With a shot of smoke columns from the front of the stage you could hear the opening notes of the new album lead-off track "Red Alert" as each member taking the stage individually, Alexis first, then Andres, then Alex and finally frontman Red as they launched into their evening. The band went back to their self-titled debut album of 2010 for the next number "Say It Loud" before going back to the new opus for "Ball Of Snow".

The band would perform six tracks from the new album, the two mentioned already along with the first single/video and title track (available on KNAC.COM HERE, featuring yours truly making an appearance) "Die Another Day", "Believe It Or Not", "We Got The Deal" and "Lady Mimosa". RED TIGER also performed "Love Gun", their cover of the KISS classic that went over well with the full house. And going back to their Latin roots they also played several songs that are titled and sung in Spanish, something they do at least once on every album they've done. These included "Quiero Mas De Ti", "Tendran Que Escucharme" and set closer (titled and sung in Spanish on the record but sung in English live), "Lo Buscare".

Being that this was the first show for the band in 5 years (the last one being right before Covid hit) you could see the excitement in their eyes. They were having a blast and that energy definitely carried over to the crowd which obviously included many family, friends and even the children of the band members who got to witness their parents perform for the very first time. About a third of the way through the show they slowed things down a bit with an acoustical interlude featuring drummer Alex Figueroa on guitar and his lovely wife Ilsa (in her first live appearance) as they performed a duet of "Damela", a song cover song from the Puerto Rican band LA SECTA that Alex told me they sing to their kids at night and watching the emotional reaction from their oldest son as they sang this song was priceless. A couple more acoustic numbers, "In The End" and "Real Love" followed before the rest of the band returned and electrified once more for the remainder of the show.

The last third of the show began with the aforementioned "Believe It Or Not" and included a trio of songs back-to-back-to-back from their third album Evolution in the title track, "Dove Love" and "Rock Nation". Alex's wife returned to the stage once again for an incredible cover of THE CRANBERRIES' hit "Zombie" and she nailed it! Any nerves she had prior about being onstage were gone by this time as she could be seen grooving to the music alongside frontman Red Latu. The band wrapped things up with another couple of tunes from the new album, a song from the Evolution album called "Texas", one of my favorites from the Alive...And Still Believing album called "Overcrowded Emptiness", "Unleashed" and the closing song, "Lo Buscare".

It was a great night of rock 'n roll in Houston and it was an honor to be a part of it as the band's official photographer and part of the RED TIGER family. There are great things in store for this band including a trip to Puerto Rico next year for a show and the release of yet another album. Here's to 20 more years guys!

https://www.redtigerband.com/

Setlist:

• "Red Alert"
• "Say It Out Loud"
• "Ball Of Snow"
• "Love Gun" (KISS cover)
• "Dealing"
• "Quiero Mas De Ti"
• "Alive And Still Believing"
• "Die Another Day"
• "Noise And Rhythm"
• "Musica Ligera"
• "Rise Up"

Acoustic Portion:

• "Damela" (LA SECTA cover)
• "In The End"
• "Real Love"

Electric again:

• "Believe It Or Not"
• "Tendran Que Escucharme"
• "Evolution"
• "Dove Love"
• "Rock Nation"
• "Zombie" (THE CRANBERRIES cover)
• "We Got The Deal"
• "Lady Mimosa"
• "Texas"
• "Overcrowded Emptiness"
• "Enleashed"
• "Lo Buscare"

Check out some more photos from the show!
All Photos By Larry Petro/Petrofyed Photography